Connecticut
Once the only game in town, Stop & Shop’s dominance is under siege. CT is ‘hyper competitive market’
![Once the only game in town, Stop & Shop’s dominance is under siege. CT is ‘hyper competitive market’](https://www.courant.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/THC-L-Grocery-Store_08.jpg?w=1024&h=681)
Stop & Shop supermarkets — the grocer where three generations of Connecticut shoppers filled their carts — remains the most popular place to pick up produce, meat and dairy in the state, but that dominance is under siege.
Quincy, Mass-based Stop & Shop’s recent announcement that it will shutter as of now an undisclosed number of “underperforming” stores — some likely in Connecticut where it operates nearly 90 outlets and is working to grow its online business — comes as it faces intensifying competition on all fronts and at a time of price inflation.
Low-price grocery juggernauts such as Walmart Supercenters and Aldi have expanded rapidly in Connecticut in the last decade. Those competitors are forcing Stop & Shop to examine its pricing, which some experts say is as much as 14% higher.
On the other end, pushes by upscale grocers such as Whole Foods and Trader Joe’s are putting pressure on Stop & Shop to up its game on quality. Experts say Stop & Shop took a hit when it began phasing out in-store butchers in favor of pre-packaged meat.
“You’ve got a hyper competitive market in our little state,” said Wayne Pesce, president of the Connecticut Food Association, a state trade organization. “All these plates are shifting and Stop & Stop who’s got the most to protect, right?”
Pesce, whose trade group promotes food retailing in Connecticut, said there is no letup in sight.
Norwalk-based boutique grocer Stew Leonard’s has firmly established its brand in Newington and is now setting its sights on New Haven County. Wegman’s of New York, with outlets throughout the Northeast, is now building its first store in Norwalk that is expected to open next year.
All the jockeying by grocers in Connecticut is likely to have an upside for consumers in both price and food quality, Pesce said.
“You have competitors investing in the market,” Pesce said. “That is happening, and that is good for consumers.”
‘That’s not enough’
Stop & Shop was founded in Massachusetts more than a century ago, opening its first Connecticut store in 1941. Today, Stop & Shop now has nearly 400 stores in five states. Along with other U.S. grocers such as Food Lion and Hannaford, Stop & Shop is owned by Dutch retail and wholesale giant Ahold Delhaize.
JJ Fleeman, chief executive of Ahold Delhaize’s U.S. operations, told investors last month that Stop & Shop has made significant strides in enhancing loyalty programs, which extend rewards, discounts, or other special incentives to keep customers coming back to shop. In addition, steps have been taken to build its digital customer base.
“But that’s not enough, and it’s not where we want or need to be,” Fleeman said, according to a video of the investor meeting. “As Stop & Shop embarks on its next phase, we will be decisive and take deliberate and appropriate actions to ensure a stable future for the brand.”
In addition to pricing and a “focus on quality, fresh products and well-stocked shelves,” Fleeman said there will be an emphasis “on fantastic service in each of its stores.”
While Stop & Shop has invested in remodeling 190 stores, it will make “difficult decisions” to close locations so the grocer can “create a healthy store base for the long term and grow the brand.”
John Minchillo/AP
Stop & Shop has nearly 90 stores in Connecticut and about 400 in five Northeast states. (AP Photo/John Minchillo, File)
In a separate statement, Stop & Shop said Connecticut remains a priority for the grocer, and it plans to continue investing in store upgrades in the state.
The initiatives come at a critical time for Stop & Shop, at least in Connecticut, where the grocer has been a familiar anchor at shopping centers for 40 years.
In 2003, Stop & Shop had a market share of 40.4% in the Hartford area, according to New York-based Strategic Resource Group, a retail industry consultant. That market share had eroded to 26.8% as of 2023.
Over the same period, Walmart Supercenters, which offer full-service grocery, went from virtually no market share in 2003 in the Hartford area to 12.9% last year. Across Connecticut, 26 Walmart Supercenters opened in that time period, Strategic Resource Group said.
ShopRite, another low-cost competitor, said it has opened two new Connecticut stores in Cromwell and Vernon and has remodeled seven stores in the last five years. This week, two remodeled stores in Stamford will mark grand re-openings.
ShopRite stores and its sister grocer Price Rite are part of a cooperative in which independent family-run businesses operate stores. All together, the cooperative, Keasby, N.J.-based Wakefern added 27 stores in Connecticut since 2003, boosting its market share in the Hartford area from 2.7% to 11.1%
Emails seeking comment from Walmart, Big Y, Costco, BJ’s Wholesale Club and Aldi weren’t returned.
David Cadden, a professor emeritus of entrepreneurship and strategy at Quinnipiac University in Hamden, said there has been a dramatic shift in how consumers buy their groceries, at least on the cost-saving end of the shopping spectrum.
“The key thing is people are much more willing to become less brand loyal to particular retail outlets and begin to take a look for the best bargain and the best value that they can find at different locations,” Cadden said.
The option of calling in orders can “minimize the annoyance of going to different locations,” Cadden said.
‘Get back to business basics’
Stop & Shop long had a reputation for investing in quality and service, some experts say, but that has shifted in recent years. Perhaps the most notable example is the decision to move to pre-packaged meats, phasing out meat cut to order in the store.
The purchase of meat, particularly in the U.S., is central to weekly shopping trips, not only to consumers but grocery stores.
“Meat is the keystone in the bridge of the shopping basket to get the average customer instead of spending $35 to $40 per average transaction to spend $75 to $95,” Burt Flickinger, managing director of Strategic Resource Group, said. “And in many cases, numbers far exceed $100 per transaction.”
Stop & Shop didn’t appear to see that coming, Flickinger said.
“That shifted the customers over to Big Y, some of the ShopRites, but the lion’s share of the customers went fleeing to Costco,” Flickinger said.
Flickinger said centralizing some meat packaging is all right, but there still has to be the service at the store, the master meat cutter or butcher.
“It seems like they should get back to business basics and fresh foods, starting with meat and produce,” Flickinger said. “And to prices that are more competitive.”
Step forward, step back
Experts warn that cost-cutting through store closings like what Stop & Shop is pursuing can touch off a retailer’s downward spiral, with closings leading to more.
But in Hartford, the prospect of a potential shuttering is raising other concerns. The Stop & Shop on New Park Avenue in the city’s Parkville neighborhood is the sole full-service supermarket in Hartford.
Martha Page, chair of the Hartford Advisory Commission on Food Policy, said the loss of the Stop & Shop would be a critical setback to increasing access to healthful food in a city that long struggled with food insecurity.
“You go a step forward and then a step back,” Page said. “There’s no question about it, if that store closes, that leaves a hole. That not only leaves a gap in the food landscape but it leaves a challenging site, real estate wise.”
The city has long pushed for more food shopping alternatives in Hartford if it is to continue on its redevelopment trajectory. One such effort that is on-going is to bring a grocery store to the city’s North End neighborhoods.
Jennifer Barr Brogan, a Stop & Shop spokeswoman, said the supermarket chain couldn’t provide specific store locations that may be shuttered or a timeline. It is too early in the process, Brogan said, in an email.
“Stop & Shop can confirm that the broader community impact of a store closure will be considered,” Brogan said.
Here is a look at the major Connecticut grocers and how the food retailing landscape is shifting:
1. Stop & Shop
Founded: 1914
Headquarters: Quincy, Mass.
No. of CT stores in ’23: 81
Change from ’03: +12
Hartford area market share in ’23: 26.8%
Hartford market share in ’03: 40.4%
2. Walmart Supercenter
Founded: 1962*
Headquarters: Bentonville, Ariz.
No. of CT stores in ’23: 28
Change from a decade ago: +26
Hartford market share in ’23: 12.9%
Hartford market share in ’03: n/a
*first U.S. supercenter opens in 1988
3. ShopRite/Price Rite
Founded: 1946
Headquarters: Keasbey, N.J.
No. of CT stores in ’23: 39
Change from ’03: +27
Hartford area market share in ’23: 11.1%
Hartford area market share in ’03: 2.7%
4. Big Y
Founded: 1936
Headquarters: Springfield
No. of CT stores in ’23: 37
Change from ’03: +21
Hartford area market share in ’23: 9.4%
Hartford area market share in ’03: 11%
5. Costco
Founded: 1983
Headquarters: Issaquah, Wash.
No. of CT stores in ’23: 9
Change from ’03: +5
Hartford area market share in ’23: 8.5%
Hartford area market share in ’03: 3%
6. BJ’s Wholesale Club
Founded: 1984
Headquarters: Westborough, Mass.
No. of CT stores in ’23: 11
Change from ’03: +6
Hartford area market share in ’23: 4.4%
Hartford area market share in ’03: 1.2%
7. Aldi
Founded: 1961
Headquarters: Essen, Germany
U.S. headquarters: Batavia, IL
No. of CT stores in ’23: 26
Change from ’03: +24
Hartford area market share in ’23: 2%
Hartford area market share in ’03: n/a
SOURCES: Strategic Resource Group, Company websites
Kenneth R. Gosselin can be reached at kgosselin@courant.com.
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Connecticut
Man spends $20K to transform his Connecticut home into fun, color-filled ‘dollhouse’
![Man spends $20K to transform his Connecticut home into fun, color-filled ‘dollhouse’](https://a57.foxnews.com/static.foxbusiness.com/foxbusiness.com/content/uploads/2024/06/0/0/pink-split-copy.jpg?ve=1&tl=1)
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A New Yorker has turned his new home in Connecticut into a pop-of-color “dollhouse” after dreaming of such a space ever since he was a child.
Jonny Carmack, 31, bought his Danbury, Connecticut, home in 2020 after needing to escape Manhattan during the pandemic.
He said that this particular three-bedroom, one-and-a-half bathroom home was the first space he toured — and that it was the perfect size but didn’t have the perfect look, SWNS reported.
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However, he’d been dreaming of turning a property into his personal “dollhouse” ever since he was a kid, he said.
“When I bought this house, I knew I wanted to use it as a landing pad for my creativity,” he said.
Jonny Carmack, pictured here, told Fox News Digital he’s grateful for the supportive online community that’s been weighing in on his colorful home. (Jonny Carmack / Fox News)
Today, after spending roughly $20,000 on renovations, Carmack has a color-filled space that is hard to miss.
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Thanks to some help from Facebook Marketplace and HomeGoods, Carmack bought unique secondhand items to turn his new space into something special.
![Sitting room](https://a57.foxnews.com/static.foxbusiness.com/foxbusiness.com/content/uploads/2024/06/931/523/man-spends-20k-1204371.jpg?ve=1&tl=1)
Carmack has multiple rooms in his home that are full of colorful items. (SWNS / SWNS)
“I knew what I wanted the themes of my home to be, and now I have been finetuning them to push my personality out there more,” he told SWNS.
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Carmack has a fruit room, a bakery dining room, a blue lounge, a pink parlor, a pop art bathroom, an ice cream bathroom and more themed spaces within his Connecticut home.
The homeowner said he added over $100,000 in value to his home thanks to the colorful renovations and decorative items.
![Dining room](https://a57.foxnews.com/static.foxbusiness.com/foxbusiness.com/content/uploads/2024/06/931/523/man-spends-20k-1204380.jpg?ve=1&tl=1)
The dining room of the home features shades of green, pink and blue throughout. (SWNS / SWNS)
Carmack noted that his favorite space in the home is his kitchen.
He said it has the best lighting, and that he loves to use it for cooking and hosting.
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Carmack told Fox News Digital that his rooms were inspired by special people and places he idolized.
“Each room is designed around the vintage 1980s furniture I curated over the last 3 to 4 years,” he said. “And my biggest inspirations have been Dolly Parton, Barbie and colorful Floridian tack.”
![house kitchen](https://a57.foxnews.com/static.foxbusiness.com/foxbusiness.com/content/uploads/2024/06/931/523/man-spends-20k-1205220.jpg?ve=1&tl=1)
Carmack, who moved to Connecticut a few years ago, said he’s dreamed of creating a real-life dollhouse for as long as he can remember. (SWNS / SWNS)
He also told Fox News Digital that he’d always been drawn to “dollhouse aesthetics” as a child and would often imagine himself living in such a place.
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He said, “I tried to force myself into the more tame and modern stylings as an adult and decorated many spaces in various shades of beige and white before being brave enough to go bold!”
![Pink house and man](https://a57.foxnews.com/static.foxbusiness.com/foxbusiness.com/content/uploads/2024/06/931/523/pink-split-copy.jpg?ve=1&tl=1)
A man has added $100,000 worth of value to his Connecticut home thanks to renovations and items he bought secondhand. (SWNS/Jonny Carmack / SWNS)
Carmack has posted about his unique space on Instagram, where he has over 177,000 followers.
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He told Fox News Digital he’s grateful to the creative community online that loves his home space as much as he does.
Connecticut
Best and Worst Connecticut Travel Times for Independence Day
![Best and Worst Connecticut Travel Times for Independence Day](https://townsquare.media/site/677/files/2024/06/attachment-Untitled-3.jpeg?w=1200&q=75&format=natural)
AAA just released their annual report on 4th of July travel. The goal of the information dump is to make folks aware of the peak (worst) travel times for holidays. Some of this is common sense and other time periods may surprise you.
Connecticut has its own quirks that need to be accounted for but the national guidelines are pretty standard across the board. Here are the Best and Worst Travel times for this coming (2024) 4th of July holiday.
Best Travel Times By Car:
- Monday July 1 – Minimal Traffic Expected All Day
- Tuesday, July 2 – Before Noon
- Wednesday, July 3 – Before Noon
- Thursday, July 4 – Before Noon
- Friday, July 5 – Before 10am
- Saturday, July 6 – Before 10am
- Sunday, July 7 – Before 11am
- Monday, July 8 – After 7pm
Worst Travel Times By Car:
- Tuesday, July 2 – 2-6pm
- Wednesday, July 3 – 2-7pm
- Thursday, July 4 – 2-7pm
- Friday, July 5 – 11am-4pm
- Saturday, July 6 – 10:30am-2:30pm
- Sunday, July 7 – 2-8pm
- Monday, July 8 – 1-5pm
I have done the 4th of July road trip so many times I can tell you horror stories that would melt your face. For many years I went to Florida for the week of the 4th of July. We would leave in the middle of the night, 2am, 3am, 4am. The years we fooled ourselves into thinking any kind of day driving would be OK, became a nightmare. Even if you leave at 6am, you hit monstrous traffic in the Washington D.C. area that brings you to a standstill for hours.
Crowded vehicle traffic and the only motorcycle in America
Do yourself a favor, no matter which direction you are headed, take the AAA numbers and get even more extreme. If you can embark at 2am, you should. Happy 4th of July in advance, it is the single-greatest holiday we all celebrate.
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Connecticut
This Connecticut amusement park is the oldest in the United States
![This Connecticut amusement park is the oldest in the United States](https://static.foxnews.com/foxnews.com/content/uploads/2024/06/Venus-vortex-Lake-Compounce-main.jpg)
America’s oldest theme park lies in Bristol, Connecticut.
Starting out as a lakeside picnic park with stunning views, the space has evolved into a theme park housing over 35 rides and attractions.
Lake Compounce is named the oldest amusement park in the United States by the National Amusement Park Historical Association and the oldest continuously operating amusement park, according to the Library of Congress.
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The National Amusement Park Historical Association recognizes the theme park as the fifth-oldest in the world.
Those that come before it are Bakken in Klampenborg, Denmark, Prater in Vienna, Blackgang Chine on the Isle of Wight, United Kingdom, and Tivoli Gardens in Copenhagen, Denmark.
A Lake Compounce water slide is shown. Starting out as a lakeside picnic park with stunning views, the space has evolved into a theme park housing over 35 rides and attractions. (Lake Compounce)
Lake Compounce first opened its doors to the public in 1846 as a park.
On Oct. 6, 1846, Samuel Botsford, a Bristol scientist, successfully persuaded property owner Gad Norton to allow him to hold “a series of beautiful experiments in electricity,” according to the theme park’s website. This display ended up drawing thousands of people to Lake Compounce.
![Two parents swinging child in the air at amusement park](https://a57.foxnews.com/static.foxnews.com/foxnews.com/content/uploads/2024/06/1200/675/family-amusement-park.jpg?ve=1&tl=1)
Theme parks such as Lake Compounce provide fun for the whole family. (iStock)
In 1895, the first permanent building, a casino with a restaurant on the lower floor and a ballroom on the upper was built, according to the source, with dinner costing 50 cents at the time.
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It was 1914 when the first electric-powered roller coaster opened to the public, it was called the Green Dragon.
![Lake Compounce carousal](https://a57.foxnews.com/static.foxnews.com/foxnews.com/content/uploads/2024/06/1200/675/lake-compounce.jpg?ve=1&tl=1)
Lake Compounce’s carousel (not pictured) was originally built in 1898. (iStock)
This ride ended up being replaced by the Wildcat coaster in 1914, which guests can still take a thrilling journey on today. That particular ride did undergo restoration, providing a smoother ride for guests.
Another famed wooden roller coaster at Lake Compounce is Boulder Dash, which first opened in 2000.
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This ride has been named the best wooden roller coaster by Amusement Today five times.
Although the park has gone through changes since its inception, like being acquired by Palace Entertainment in 2009, the historical atmosphere can still be felt throughout the park.
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For example, the carousel that kids and adults alike adore was first built in 1898 and was brought to the theme park in 1911.
![Girlfriend feeding boyfriend cotton candy](https://a57.foxnews.com/static.foxnews.com/foxnews.com/content/uploads/2024/06/1200/675/couple-cotton-candy.jpg?ve=1&tl=1)
Families, couples and friends will all find something they enjoy at Lake Compounce. (iStock)
Also part of Lake Compounce is Connecticut’s largest water park. Admission to Crocodile Cove is included in every ticket purchase.
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Lake Compounce contains a good balance of rides ideal for children and adults with plenty of coasters and kid-friendly rides for a full day of fun.
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